Waken (The Woods of Everod Book 1) Read Free Page B

sign.
    “Sorry! I wasn’t looking where I was going.” My hand muffled my words.
    “It’s okay.”
    Standing, I looked at the human wall that had fallen victim to my wandering mind. She towered a good six inches over my own five-foot-two frame. She’d been the one to arrive with Tristan.
    She carefully looked at me rubbing my nose, an obvious attempt to figure out if she should know me from somewhere other than the parking lot this morning. “Have we met before? You look so familiar.”
    “Um, no. Janie Moore, Justin’s stepsister.”
    “I’m Rachel Hogan. So, did you just move in with Justin and your dad?” She started walking and I just followed along, unsure how to walk away while she was still talking to me.
    “Umm, no, I’ve been here a couple weeks.”
    “Wow, I can’t believe I haven’t seen you around town!”
    “I’m kind of a homebody.”
    “Oh.” She was struggling to find something to talk about. I wanted to tell her that I’d rather not talk at all, but I couldn’t seem to work up the courage. “So, where’re you from?”
    “New York,” I answered, naming the last place we’d lived.
    “Oh, I am so jealous! I’d love to live in New York! Well, I’d love to live anywhere with some decent shopping!” She had a tinkling laugh.
    “Have you always lived here?” I asked.
    “Yeah, but I’m so outta here next year. I’m already planning my move to L.A.!” Her words were passionate, but a dull glaze screened her green eyes.
    Rachel talked nonstop as we headed up the trail. I wondered how it would take her to figure out that nobody talked to me. How soon would she realize I wasn’t really interested in talking with her? I listened to her animated chatter and strived to really hear what she was saying, but my mind was racing with possible ways to murder Justin without getting caught.
    “So how do you like Everod?”
    Jolted by the change of conversation, I scrambled to comprehend her question and form a reply. “It’s…quaint.”
    Rachel laughed at that. “You mean boring.”
    “It’s not bad,” I assured her. “Just not as busy as I’m used to.” There weren’t as many places to hide out. In a city, I could sit in the middle of a mall and be alone for hours without a single person wondering about me. Here I had to hide at home, because really even the library was too small to blend in.
    “So, why’d your parents move here?”
    “Tim, my stepdad, is a wildlife photographer and decided he wants to focus on Western Colorado for a while,” I explained, not exactly the truth but not a lie either.
    “Cool.”
    She threw her head back, tossing her hair when she laughed, as if every eye around was on her. My secret longing to have that same confidence kept me at her side, listening to what I would normally consider drivel.
    I’d always been leery of talking to girls like her; they possessed the power to intimidate me just by walking around looking so perfect. Rachel, though, was amazingly easy to talk with. Well, Rachel talked and I listened, which was fine by me. I took the time to study her. She looked like a beauty queen. She had long wavy caramel hair, not a strand out of place, and her make-up was flawless, although I doubted she needed it.
    We made the summit only minutes behind the others. Justin looked from Rachel to me and I could almost see the panic fill him as he made his way over to us. I flashed him an evil smile and went on listening to Rachel.
    “Janie.” He leaned around Rachel. I ignored him, although my grin now stretched across my face. “Janie, I’m sorry.” His voice held a bit of desperation. My smile must have been very convincing. Usually I actually had to do something to him before he began backtracking, but I suppose the thought of being my personal chauffeur was finally sinking in. “I shouldn’t have forced you to take the bet.”
    I waited a minute, just to watch him squirm and debated dragging it out to make him suffer, but thought better